Back to Basics
by Shenlong Girl
Summary: The Doctor can't leave his companions alone for five minutes, can he? Jack suffers the consequences of impulsiveness.  OT3 friendship fic.


**Title:** Back to Basics  
**Author:** Shen  
**Characters:** Jack, Rose, Nine. Friendship.  
**Rating:** PG  
**Summary:** The Doctor can't leave his companions alone for five minutes, can he? Jack suffers the consequences of impulsiveness.  
**Author's Notes:** This was a Whoverse Last Author Standing entry from months ago, slightly edited. Round One, Challenge Five. Prompt: Trust Issues.

Groggily, he stirs. Something is shaking him, rattling his shoulder in its joint, and he groans.

A yell crashes into his ear, "Jack? Come on, wake up!" Danger! He's up, scrambling backwards until his back collides with hard edges. Instinctively, he takes in as much information as he can. He's inside a structure, a fact that by itself makes him want to whimper. No room to run.

Before him is a female with an enticing smell. On her knees, hands out towards him, palm-up. Defenseless, submissive. And while the high-pitched noises she had been making before startled him, now she's using low, melodious calls. This, he understands.

Still cautious, he nevertheless reaches for her. She smiles, and-

"What happened? I heard you shouting." A tall figure careens into the room, its voice booming off of every surface. Doesn't smell like him or the female. It's even wearing some kind of bizarre animal skin swinging around its top half, and the thought of being eaten sends the man into overdrive.

"Aaaagh!" he aggressively howls at the monster, stops it in its tracks. He flees around it and through the opening from whence the beast had come, the pounding of his own four legs making harsh, terrifying noises on the unnaturally hard ground.

~*~*~*~*~

Rose watches the Doctor's jaw drop as Jack runs out of the room like a child playing doggy.

"You scared him off!" she yells, not really angry at him but too scared and guilty to keep from snapping.

"And why, dare I ask, would he be so scared of me that he'd roar like an animal and run off?" Rose looks away.

"We went out, like you said we should while you worked on the TARDIS, and found this pub. There weren't any humans around - they don't see a lot of us out here, apparently - but we bought a drink anyway. Jack's wrist strap said it wasn't made of mercury or hemlock or anything deadly, so we played rock-paper-scissors to see who would taste it." Her story done, she makes herself meet the Doctor's eyes again. It's with some relief that she perceives only exasperation.

"And you won, did you?"

"Lost, actually."

"Honestly, this, from a streetwise girl like you and a bloody Time Agent? Did you take candy from strangers out there, too? I bet you only made it to the pub because a brightly-painted hover-van didn't stop and ask if you wanted a free ride."

"You know what, schoolmarm, you can finish telling us kids about crossing roads safely and staying off your space lawn later. We have to catch him before he hurts himself!" Rose dramatically points down the hall, and the Doctor rolls his eyes with equal histrionics.

"At least you got him back here before it took effect. Come on, then. We'll figure out what he's swallowed while we hunt him down."

~*~*~*~*~

After quizzing Rose to figure out the planet and time period, the Doctor has a reasonably good guess as to what the boy ingested. Though he still can't believe that the usually competent former Time Agent had done the time traveling equivalent of eating candy-shaped play-doh. Now, they have a whimpering Jack cornered in a TARDIS-provided alcove.

"Are you sure we can't chase him into a room filled with pillows or something and let him sleep it off?"

"He _might_ be all right, but I don't want to take the chance. His neurochemicals are all off, and his higher brain functions are offline. To be absolutely certain he goes back to normal, we need to get him to the infirmary and administer an intravenous injection, preferably without knocking him on his bum with tranquilizers first."

Sighing defeatedly, she mutters, "I wish I could just do it. He's not as afraid of me."

"You're right; we'll teach you some more basic medical techniques when all this is over. But for now we just have to deal with it."

"Then you should stop scowling."

"Excuse me?"

"Stop scowling at him. You're making it worse." He turns toward her.

"I'm not scowling; I'm concentrating!" She turns as well, neither one paying attention to the man on the floor.

"Good lord, Doctor, it wasn't an insult. He doesn't know us anymore is all. And you don't realize when you're scowling, since you do it so much."

"I do not!"

Casually, she inquires, "Remember when you were fixing that meteorite temple's force shield on Klaxak-V? And children kept running up to you and then running off?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"They were taking dares to see who could go to you and how long they could stand there before getting frightened."

Caught off guard and thoroughly - rightfully! - indignant, the Doctor yells, "Whatever those one-legged-"

"Hhnnn!" Jack whines, covering his face. Great - if scowling hurt the situation, shouting had to make it ten times worse.

"Ssshh, come on, Jack. We won't hurt you," Rose says in a soft, nonthreatening voice as she steps closer and crouches. Jack relaxes but looks at her warily.

Encouraged, the Doctor steps closer as well, only to be greeted with snarls from the human on the ground.

"Back off a minute, Doctor." After a few minutes with the Doctor several yards away, Rose manages to get to Jack and touch him. He pulls her into his arms a little roughly and nuzzles her neck.

"Oh, my, Jack- hey!" The young man suddenly pushes her behind his back and growls at the Doctor anew.

"Great, what now?" asks the annoyed Time Lord.

"We have to show him you're safe." But all the simpering and placating in the Doctor's repertoire isn't working after several minutes. Luckily, Rose has one more idea.

"Jack?" She calls in a sing-song voice, prompting the man to glance back at her before returning his wary gaze to the Doctor. She kisses his cheek and scratches his head, making him smile and relax. A moment later, she's slipped out from behind him, prompting a fearful yelp.

Immediately, she walks up to the Doctor and hugs him. A good hug, bodies flush, where she encourages him to rest his head near her vulnerable neck. The Doctor likes this plan, even if he doesn't understand it quite yet.

"Buh?" opines Jack. Rose pushes gently, and the Doctor reluctantly lets her part from him. However, she holds onto his hand.

"See, Jack? He's okay. Harmless, unless you're a banana milkshake." She entreats him with an outstretched hand. He slowly gets up and walks toward her, pulling her into his arms. He stares at the Doctor over Rose's shoulder, no longer very fearful.

"Aww, I think he was jealous," Rose giggles, snuggling into the man's chest. The Doctor doesn't respond, however. He just walks up, puts a hand on Rose's shoulder, and very gently places his other one on Jack's. Next, very slowly, he moves in for a proper hug, holding both companions in the circle of his leather-clad arms. He even rubs his cheek against Jack's head.

"See?" he asks in his talking-to-scared-children voice. "Isn't this nice?"

"Mmmm," Rose agrees contentedly. And finally, the Captain relaxes in their arms.

"There we go, lad. You wouldn't be you if you didn't like a good snuggle, would you?"

"It still weirds me out that he hasn't grabbed my arse, though."

END


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